Rebirth In Fire
by TheFallenShadow
Summary: Set after Final Fantasy VII. An unknown soldier seems to rise from the ashes of Midgar, dressed in red, and armed with a sword that should have melted in the crater. And no, it isn't Vincent Valentine's evil twin. Chapter 3 finished. Got some pretty vivi
1. Rise Of Steel

'Cloud? You ok?'

He glanced briefly over his shoulder to see Yuffie running in that high- heeled, slightly goofy way. Inwardly, he grimaced, but showed no emotion on his face.

'Yeah?'

She reached the edge of the cliff, where he sat, and took a seat next to him.

'Beautiful, isn't it?' she said, casually. Cloud chuckled.

'Yeah, if you like charred, broken buildings, and burnt out corpses,'

'You think they'll ever rebuild it? Midgar, I mean,'

He shrugged. 'Hard to say. Places like that…only get built once. Then, they're just rubble.'

Yuffie looked thoughtful. 'You think it's been left like that as some kind of warning, you know, don't let this happen again?'

'Could be. From here, you can still see what's left of the HQ.'

'Oh yeah.' Yuffie pointed to the right of it. 'Hey, that reactor you guys blew, there's still some ruins!'

Cloud nodded. 'Look deep enough, and you'll find Biggs and Wedge pretty close to No. 5,'

'Who?'

'Never mind.'

Yuffie stood up, scraped the dirt off her clothes, and headed back down the cliff.

'Byee!'

Cloud held up a hand in recognition.

Barrett was waiting at the base of the cliff, tapping his foot impatiently.

'The hell? You took your time. How is he?'

Yuffie smiled. 'He's fine, just sitting on the cliff, staring at the ruins,'

'Damn, I hate it when he does that,' Barrett growled. 'Makes me wonder if he gonna throw his pokey headed ass back down to sector five,'

'Relax.' Yuffie replied, patting him on the back. They turned around, passed Cloud's bike, and piled into the jeep. Red was in the back, licking his paws.

'Problems?'

Barrett started the engine. 'Nah, he's fine, just his usual damn weird self. Let's head back to the airship, its outside Kalm.' he reversed, then swerved away from the cliff, heading west. 'He'll be able 'ter get back 'ter…wherever the hell he lives,' they sped over a rocky hill. 'When the hell are they gonna build some damn roads around here?'

A few miles back, Cloud stood up, and headed back down the cliff. Up on the horizon, he saw Barrett's jeep speeding away into a brooding sunset. For a second, he looked back over at the ruins, frowned, and then jumped to the grassy area below. It was a cool evening, and he felt the breeze whisper past his shoes as Cloud headed over to the bike. Just as he reached for the handlebars-

'Going somewhere?' A cold voice from up above asked. It was low, slightly arrogant, as if whoever it was disliked Cloud, pitied him, even.

_Sephiroth?_

Cloud let go of the back, and looked up, to see it wasn't Sephiroth.

_Nah. This is something else._

A tall, dark haired figure stood alone on the cliff. He wore a long, red battledress, similar to Vincents'-looked liked Vincent if it weren't for the shorter, slicked back hair that lifelessly from behind his ears and neck.

'Who the hell are you?' Cloud asked, reaching for his sword. The figure grinned.

'I would tell you, but I..' He raised one eyebrow, 'don't think it would be worth the bother…I came for a small favour.'

'Really?' Cloud asked.

'Hmm…' the figure suddenly swished back his long cloak, spun around and drew a long sword, all too familiar, Show me what you got, Cloud!'

_No way..._

The figure leapt from the top of the cliff, straight down to the ground, and slashed the Masamune at Cloud's feet. He leapt backwards, unhurt, and drew his own weapon, the buster sword. Catching his enemy off balance, Cloud aimed a swift, overhead chop at the man, but missed as he effortlessly ducked to the side.

'Not much for the man who killed Sephiroth…'

'Who _are _ you?'

The cloaked figure sighed. 'I suppose it wouldn't do that much harm…my name is Laexande. A pleasure.' He bowed, and Cloud resisted the temptation to slice off his head, a decision he'd regret. Raising the buster sword, he ran at his enemy and swung the sword around his head, in a fast blur of metal, then slashed it at his enemy's face.

The moment Cloud had raised the weapon, Laexander had bent his knees slightly, with a little give. The spiky headed warrior had taken steps toward him, agile steps. Laexande braced himself, and, just as Cloud swung the sword, he leaned backwards as far as his spine would allow, the blade screaming inches above his face. Now, for a retaliation.

With his free hand, Laexande pushed off from the soft, springy grass and bounced back upwards, slamming his forehead against Clouds'. For a second, his vision blurred, but after seeing the enemy stepping backwards, holding his forehead, Laexande took a second strike. After regaining his balance, he stroked the glittering orbs set in the hilt of the Masamune.

'That thing may be powerful,' he sneered,' but what's the point if it can't hold much material?' A look of disbelief passed over Clouds face as he finally realised he'd been head butted. Then, slowly, he lowered the sword and raised a hand in front of his eyes to guard them from the spell. Strange lights were gathering around Laexande. Cloud brought the sword down heavily, waiting to feel the impact shoot down the weapon, into his arm like electricity.


	2. Roughed Up

On the way back, Barrett and Co. were ambushed by some wolves, but after killing everything with no trouble, they piled back into the jeep. As Barrett turned the keys in the ignition, there was a huge explosion a few miles away, a fireball rose from where they had left Cloud.

'The hell?' Barrett mused, still fumbling with the keys, 'didn't know this heap of junk of _that _loud…' He turned his head just in time to see the fireball disappear behind the clouds.

'Oh.' He started the engine. 'Shit,'

Swerving the car around a small rock, Barrett took a U-Turn and headed back the way they came, towards Midgar, and Cloud. After a few minutes, Yuffie broke an uneasy silence.

'You think he's Ok?'

Red frowned. 'That was a pretty big bang. But, we've seen him go through worse, and I think he can ride it out.'

'But what the hell was that?' Barrett cut in. 'Couldn't have been Materia, right?'

'Actually, that's quite possible,' Red replied, licking his tail. 'Ever heard of something called Flare?'

'Uh..nah'

'It's a more powerful version of the fire materia that Tifa uses. But, I didn't know you cast it on such a big scale…'

'Since when were you the materia big shot?' Yuffie's face showed annoyance. Red blushed. 'Oh….I'm sure you know much more than I do about Materia, it's just-' He broke off as Yuffie shoved her sock in his mouth.

'Down boy, let me explain Materia to the _Neanderthal,'_

'The hell? Who you callin a Neanderthal?' Barrett asked, looking over his shoulder. Then, he counted the people in the jeep. 'Oh…'

'So anyways,' Yuffie continued, uhh…Flare is a real strong Materia…uh..so….don't think it's a really tiny orange and eat it, or something like that. Oh, and you can shove it in your-'

'Whoa!' Barrett yelled, as he stamped on the brakes as if stopping a horse. The Jeep spun around, and landed a few inches from the edge of a cliff.

'The hell?' Barrett exclaimed, staring out of the window. Red spat out the sock in his mouth, leapt out through the sun roof, and ran towards the edge, staring out into the charred, black ruins of Midgar. Except now, an addition had been made, another area of land also black and charred, where they'd left Cloud. Barrett joined him at the edge. 'Oh...shit,'

They drove across to where Flare had hit the land, the cliff now just a charred piece of rock that seemed to sway precariously in the wind. The burnt grass gave off a smell of the barbeque back at Seventh Heaven.

'Huh?' Yuffie was staring at something huddled against the for of a cliff, black with smoke. She ran over, but stopped as she trod on a sword. Cloud's sword.

'It's…' She stooped to pick it up, but then saw the figure make a grab for it. Carefully, she approached it, and gasped.

'Cloud? You Ok?'

The figure shook it's head vigorously, to reveal blond, spiky hair. He opened his mouth, and stared up at Yuffie.

'Masamune. He...Laexande….has the sword…. We need to-' But then he collapsed. Barrett steamed up to Cloud's side, Buster Sword in hand.

'Who the Hell did this?

'He mentioned a name…Laexande…' Yuffie said quietly.

Barrett nodded. 'Ok, that's a start. We need to move him back to Kalm' Then, he picked up Cloud, slung him over his shoulder like a thin balloon, and headed back to the Jeep. Yuffie and Red followed in silence. eHeHe HHdsgsrgs


	3. A Night On The Town

With Cloud gibbering to himself in the back, Barrett pulled up outside Kalm. The pokey headed one had a rough time these days, even with Sephiroth gone, but always pulled through. The only inn in Kalm was run by a friendly guy who used to live in Midgar, and knew Barrett pretty well, after they spent the night there all those months ago. Red and Yuffie left the jeep before he'd even killed the engine, leaving the gun armed warrior to carry Cloud in by himself.

'Yo, Yuffie!' He yelled at the two disappearing shapes. 'Get Tifa on the damn PHS, will ya?' The taller shape threw a thumbs up over her shoulder, then both were gone. That new materia must have hit shops, or something. Not that it really mattered to Barrett, he only liked the big stuff that made a mess. Some materia was useless-what the hell were you supposed to do with that white stuff that Aeris had?

It didn't actually matter, as Aeris wasn't coming back. That was for sure. Barrett threw open the boot, heaved Cloud over his shoulder, and walked over across the cobbles into Kalm Inn. It was much warmer inside, a fire burning in the back room.

'Hey, it's Mr Smoothie!' The innkeeper, Reed, called out. 'What can I get ya, big boy?' Then, he saw what was over Barrett's shoulder. 'Had a night on the town, gorgeous? I see you picked up a hot blonde. Muscular too… Yeah., that happened when me and this guy called Reeve hit Junon for the night. That was crazy, he is sooooo…well, you know. Damn, we almost slaughtered by that giant snake thing on the way back, somebody oughta-'

'Reed, can you just shut the hell up and give me a god damn key?'

'Oh, yeah, sure. Uh…room ones free, that's got a double bed.' He eyed over Barrett again. 'But, uh….I doubt you'll want that one. Uh…oh yeah, we have a nice single on the left,'

'Stop bullshitting, Reed. You only got one big room, upstairs, on the left. I jes' hope you ain't putting' up no ex-Shinra stiffs for the night…damn puppies…' He snatched the key, and went upstairs, carrying Cloud like toddle carries his teddy.

'Whoa…' Reed muttered. 'I bet he's a _killer _in the sack…but he must get lonely _all _the time, when no one's there, and he needs some 'luvin,' He grinned. 'Let's hope he isn't right handed!'

Upstairs, Barrett cursed the hyper gay innkeeper and threw Cloud unceremoniously on the bed. He groaned with the impact, and rolled over onto his back.

'You like that?' Barrett asked, then pulled up a chair, and sat on it backwards. 'Shit, you took one helluva beatin'. I'm not sure how long it'll take before you get back to normal. Tifa's on the way, you know she does all that doctor shit these days…' He trailed off, not sure what to say next, so turned around and headed for the stairs.

'Barrett…' a voice called from behind him.

'Yeah?'

'Did…did I ever renew my…health insurance?'

'Lemme put it to 'ya this way: after that coma of yours, no insurance company on the planet is gonna give you a lollipop, let alone take claims. You get knocked around too much, little man,'

'Whatever,' Cloud replied, now staring at the ceiling, hands behind his head. 'I'' just dress up as a girl again, and use Tifa's card instead…'

Maybe he was delirious, Barrett thought, or maybe this was why Cloud had two women fall in love with him, and manage to alienate one, and…well….He'd never been laid, that was for sure.

'You oughta pay the innkeeper a visit,' Barrett quipped. 'Shit, maybe 'ya could ask him for a hot dog, you might like it,' With that, he shut the door, leaving Cloud to chuckle to himself. It hadn't worked.

'Hey, Reed,' He yelled, sure that Barrett had left by now. There was a muffled thump as the wardrobe doors spilled open, revealing Reed and about six types of male lingerie. 'It didn't work, Reed. Back to square one, I think,'

'Dam it,' Reed shook his head. 'When am I gonna get that bad boy in the sack?'


End file.
